30(05) continues to make fairly slow progress through Spain. She has only travelled a total of about 223 km (140 miles) in two days (Monday and Tuesday). Her route can be seen on the map below.

30’s route on 23rd and 24th March

As you can see, 30 was making her way northwards, then suddenly doubled back and began heading south/south-east. She was forced to re-think her movements due to bad weather along the route she was on. Our friend Xarles Cepeda, from the Urdaibai Bird Centre, sent us the following update on the weather in that region:

“I have followed the path of the Osprey and the u-turn back that she did yesterday can be for the heavy rain that we had here. I think that today she will advance a lot of kilometres because the weather has got better at mid-morning. We have a sunny day at last! We will be hoping for her.”

At her northernmost point, 30 was only 40 miles from Urdaibai when she turned back.

Location of Urdaibai in relation to 30

30 spent yesterday afternoon at a reservoir called Embalse de Gonzalez Lacasa. Perhaps she had seen this as she flew north and decided to head there for respite from the weather. She went fishing in the reservoir, then roosted on its shore last night.

The reservoir where 30 spent yesterday afternoon and evening

We hope that the weather improves soon and enables 30 to make more significant progress.

3 responses to “30(05) battles on”

Many thanks Kaleigh. In some ways it is reassuring to know the reason for her delay, as a number of expected birds have not yet appeared at their nests. Many are probably experiencing the bad weather conditions not only in Spain, but in Portugal and north Africa